Pan Americanism and informal imperialism: Argentina and North American Universal exhibitions of Buffalo (1901) and San Francisco (1915)

Abstract

Towards the second half of the nineteenth century, United States entered the field of colonial struggle and sought to expand both geographically and commercially. The Pan-American project tended to consolidate this position and recreate the proposal of hegemony outlined by the Monroe Doctrine (1823). Inter-American Conferences (1889 -1955) and some of the actions that arose from them gave shape to this project. However, conferences seem to contribute only to maintain good relations between United States and Argentina. It seems that cultural-political interventions were succeeded in creating space of encounter and negotiate contents of Pan-American projects. The aim of this paper is to understand the significance that Pan American exposition at Buffalo (1901) and San Francisco Panama Pacific exhibition (1915) acquired in approaching positions between United States and Argentina. Manuscripts of the exhibitions, dialogues between visual representations and actions of some people involved in both expositions allow us to analyze some of the routes followed by the Pan-American project in the early decades of the century XX.